“Your son isn’t going to make it.”

ESL aide and mother Valentina Piñedo has been given this prognosis four times.

Students and teachers have raised $3,898 through garage sales, bake sales and general donations to ensure she never has to hear those words again.

Gustavo Piñedo is a 22-year-old Richardson High School graduate who has been battling Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Membranous Lupus Nephritis since 2005. Recently the disease has taken a turn for the worse – his kidneys have been reduced to 2% functionality and he needs a transplant to survive.

Students and teachers have set a goal of $6,500 to be raised by January 18 to help pay for the $250,000 kidney transplant and the additional $25,000 per year of post-transplant medications.

The kidney is being donated by his stepfather, Jose Piñedo.

If that goal is reached, not only will Gustavo be given a second chance at life, but Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) sponsor Rochelle Washington will shave her head at the Magnet Pep Rally.

As Gustavo’s former teacher, Washington recalls Gustavo as a class clown who always wore a smile.

“What really touched me about Gustavo was that he was that student who could always make you laugh,” Washington said. “It really hurt my heart that the disease took over his body to the point where his kidneys became totally shot.”

Washington’s motivation reaches far beyond helping a past student.

Like Gustavo, this cheerful and vibrant woman suffers from Lupus.

“When Gustavo was my student I was having trouble with my kidneys and they began treating me with chemo. My biggest concern, after being healthy, of course, was that ‘Oh my god, I’m going to lose my hair,’’’ Washington said. “Now I’m to a point where I don’t care about my hair, it’s all about being healthy. I’m going to shave my head to bring attention to the cause.”

According to Washington, Lupus, which effects around 1.5 million Americans, doesn’t get the big-name advocates and spokespeople like cancer does. It’s a secret disease the Piñedo family knows all too well.

Not only does Gustavo suffer from Lupus, his mother does too.

Valentina struggles with Lupus on a daily basis. She was diagnosed in 1992 and told without treatment she wouldn’t survive more than two weeks. Propelled by the her love for her young son, she began taking 86 pills a day in order to survive.

The love that propelled Valentina to recover is mirrored in her son. His devotion to his 1-year-old daughter, Maritcy, keeps him going.

“During my daughter’s labor I was ready to throw in the towel with pain in the joints. There were 40 pounds of fluid in my body and doctors said I got one year to live,” Gustavo said. “When I saw my daughter eyes, when I held her, I knew at that moment that she needs me and if she ever inherits Lupus like I did, I would help her through it.”

His sickness keeps him from doing all he would like to with his little girl.

“The hardest [part] of my Lupus is seeing my daughter next to my bed looking at me, but with my pain I [can’t] play, feed her, or pick her up,” Gustavo said.

Between Gustavo’s dialysis three times a week and the approximately 30 pills he takes daily, money has slowly disappeared in the Piñedo household of Valentina, Jose, Gustavo, his wife Adriana, and Maritcy. Between cooking Gustavo’s specialized meals (no salt, oil, milk, chocolate, potassium, most vegetables and proteins) and running a household, Valentina has neglected to take care of herself. The disease is spreading to her liver and lungs.

“Right now, I am just focused on making Gustavo better,” Valentina said. “After he is better, I will start thinking about myself again. I would like to go back to school, maybe, to become a teacher.”

Then, in August, the Piñedo family was denied their request for food stamps. Social Security has also failed them.

“Even though we are both citizens and have our papers they wouldn’t give them to us,” Valentina said. “I really don’t know why we couldn’t qualify.”

To make ends meet, Gustavo works 30 hours a week to qualify for his insurance. Despite his intense joint pain and fatigue, he supports his family as a chef at Bistro N, the restaurant at Nordstroms.

“[One of the] hardest parts of lupus is having to go to work swollen, in pain, extremely tired and nauseous all the time,” Gustavo said.

Still, he loves his job. His passion for food began when he had to cook for his mother when she was ill.

“I loved cooking and making my Dad and my Mommy happy,” Gustavo said. “Plus, now I cook better than my Mom.”

The Culinary Arts Magnet at Richardson High School further cultivated his passion and helped get him through his harder days. Even when he was first diagnosed in his sophomore year and was spending three days a week in the hospital, he always made sure to do his culinary work.

“He did miss quite a bit of class,” Culinary Arts teacher Karen Hill said. “He would, however, always make up his work with a smile on his face and a joke to tell me. His goal was to be a chef. I just know that’s why he kept coming to school.”

The disease couldn’t stop him from attending graduation either.

“When graduation came his feet had become so swollen because of his kidneys that he couldn’t wear shoes,” Valentina said. “The principal told us we’d have to paint his feet black so it would look like he was wearing shoes. We did it and the whole time Gustavo just told me ‘I’m going.’”

Gustavo’s experience with hardship makes him empathic to other’s suffering.

“If I was normal for one day I would volunteer at a soup kitchen because I know a life of suffering,” Gustavo said.

The coin drives, bake sales, and other fundraisers that will continue through the month of January may just give him that chance.

His combined dreams of becoming a chef and seeing his daughter grow up keep Gustavo alive, despite any grim prognosis.

“This transplant would give me at least 20 years to live and see my girl grow up,” Gustavo said. “[I would also get to] see my first wrinkle on my face, and be a well known chef of Dallas.”